The women behind the supercar industry

With gender clichés rapidly becoming a thing of the past, discover the proud tradition of women in motor racing and supercars

There is a quiet revolution underway in that bastion of male dominance – the car industry.

Barnebys, an auction house search engine that monitors classic car sales around the world, has been tracking the gender change that is bringing the male dominated car world into the 21st Century.

They start with a key moment in history, when Anna Maria Peduzzi, one of the greatest female racecar drivers of the 1950s, became Ferrari's first female driver. She was the first woman to have raced for Scuderia Ferrari - the most successful racing team in history.

The sad story behind the great yet enigmatic Peduzzi, is that little is known of her today, even her exact death has never been confirmed. Peduzzi competed in over 50 races at a time when motor racing was something of a blood sport, with no seat belts, lightweight helmets and no power-assisted steering or brakes. As a woman, Peduzzi’s strength on the track would have been considered something of a spectacle at the time.

In 2014, women had been out of F1 for 22 years, which all changed when Williams announced that Susie Wolff would be the first woman since 1992 to take part in an official F1 session. Prior to Wolff, Giovanna Amati for Brabham, at the Brazilian Grand Prix, was the last woman to compete in an F1 race weekend.

Women in F1

In F1, women have not only been behind the wheel, but at the helm as in 2012 Sauber made Monisha Kaltenborn F1's first female team principal.

Born in Dehradun, India, Kaltenborn’s family emigrated to Vienna when she was a child, where she took Austrian citizenship. In 2000, Monisha started at Sauber’s legal department, where she moved up the ranks to become CEO in 2010. In 2011, Peter Sauber, the team principal at the time, gifted Kalteborn 33.3% of the team’s equity, a sign that she would take on his role.

Women have also been making their presence felt in the car design. Last year, 34-year-old Michelle Christensen (pictured at top) designed the new Acura NSX, which was made to compete with Ferrari. Christensen was the first female exterior designer at Acura, with her career in car design beginning in 2002 when a determined Christensen took night classes in car design to earn her a place at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design’s automotive design programme.

Michelle’s first job was as an intern at Volvo and by 2005, just 10 years later she was hired by Acura and her redesign for the NSX was applauded by her industry peers.

For 20 years, Alexandra ‘’Sandy’’ McGill has been the lead colour designer for the BMW Group DesignWorksUSA. McGill is responsible for designs for BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and is the creative genius behind iconic colours which have adorned some of the world’s most popular and desired cars. A lot has changed for McGill since she first joined BMW.

‘’When I got to Munich [with BMW] in 1991, there were only two women in my design group, now there are many more.’’

Petrol heads it seems no longer only come in one gender.

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